The Pololu MinIMU-9 v2 is an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that packs an L3GD20 3-axis gyro and an LSM303DLHC 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis magnetometer onto a tiny 0.8″ × 0.5″ board. An I²C interface accesses nine independent rotation, acceleration, and magnetic measurements that can be used to calculate the sensor’s absolute orientation. The module includes a voltage regulator and a level-shifting circuit that allows operation from 2.5 to 5.5 V.

Recommended links

This is a library for the Arduino that interfaces with our L3GD20H and L3GD20 3-axis gyro carriers as well as the gyros on the MinIMU-9 v3 and AltIMU-10 v3 (it also works with older versions of those boards, some of which used the L3G4200D and the L3GD20). It makes it simple to configure the device and read the raw gyro data.

This is a library for the Arduino that interfaces with our LSM303D, LSM303DLHC, and LSM303DLM 3D compass and accelerometer carriers as well as the compass and accelerometer ICs on the MinIMU-9 v3 and AltIMU-10 v3 (it also works with older versions of those boards, some of which used the LSM303DLH and LSM303DLHC). It makes it simple to configure the device and read the raw accelerometer and magnetometer data, and it has a function for computing the tilt-compensated heading for those looking to use the LSM303 as a tilt-compensated compass.

This Arduino program (sketch) allows an Arduino connected to a MinIMU-9 v3 or AltIMU-10 v3 (or older versions of those boards) to function as an attitude and heading reference system, calculating estimated roll, pitch, and yaw angles from sensor readings that can be visualized with a 3D test program on a PC. It is based on the work of Jordi Munoz, William Premerlani, Jose Julio, and Doug Weibel.

This Arduino program by Camel Software can read data from our AltIMU-10, compute the orientation of the board, and output it over serial. It uses quaternions internally to represent the rotation, but can output Euler anglers, a rotation matrix, or a quaternion. The MinIMU-9 v2 is just an AltIMU-10 without a pressure sensor, so the code can be made to work with a MinIMU-9 v2 by commenting out a few lines.

RTIMULib, written by richards-tech, is a library for embedded Linux systems designed to make it easy to interface with an IMU and get Kalman-filtered orientation estimates. It works with our MinIMU-9 v3, AltIMU-10 v3, and AltIMU-10 v4 (as well as the older MinIMU-9 v2 and AltIMU-10), and it includes two demo programs that aid in testing and calibrating the sensors. Instructions are provided for setting up RTIMULib on a Raspberry Pi.

This is a YouTube playlist by control systems lecturer Brian Douglas that uses the L3GD20 MEMS gyroscope. It describes the fundamentals of the gyro and how to use it for closed and open loop control projects with MATLAB/Simulink and Arduino.